As far back as I can remember, St. Patrick's Day in the United States was about little leprechauns who hid their pots of gold underneath the ends of rainbows. Kingsley, my favorite full-blooded Irishman from Wexford (Ireland), dislikes how the world depicts leprechauns. The distain is clear from his body language.
"Everyone always makes them look like weak little weird people", he'd say. He doesn't like how the depiction and marketing of leprechauns affect how others perceive Irish people. I can relate to that. I've grown up seeing art in the US stereotyping people of Asian descent as feeble and buck-toothed -which is of course, not true. I can understand how art can affect people's perception of one's ethnicity and culture.
Knowing how art can alter minds, I thought I'd help people change the imagination of leprechauns to something more attractive -like how people see Zeus or Hercules in their minds. And thus, I've painted a scene showing a muscular captive leprechaun (based off Kingsley) patiently waiting on his giant pot of gold for someone to release him.
Who's going to be the lucky one?
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Aligned with Rome Pride 2022, this piece was shown in the "Ultraqueer" exhibition within the Palazzo Merulana museum in Rome, Italy. This landmark exhibition aimed to challenge the long history of oppressive principles set by the heteropatriarchal binary system, promote identity self-reflection, and raise awareness of homotransphobic and intersectional discrimination.
Being a part of the Sex Positivity portion of the exhibit, it was designed to challenge taboos that still permeate today's society and attack stigma that follow various sex practices.
